The best electric pressure cooker

If you are interested in cutting in half the preparation time for some of your meals, a pressure cooker is what you need. In them you can prepare anything you want to braise, stew or boil much faster.

The best electric pressure cooker

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These pressure steamers use steam to cook quickly have been popular for many years, because they are very efficient (they save time and electricity). And because they are a great tool if you are short on time but need to put something nutritious on the table for your family.

If you have an older pressure cooker (made before around 1990), you may want to trade it in for a new one. And if you can, it’s certainly a good idea. Because newer models are much safer and more efficient.

Our pick

After many hours of research and testing, several experts have come to the conclusion that the best pressure cookers for most people are electric instant pots. Specifically the Instant Pot Duo 7-1.

Both the Instant Pot and the others have been chosen primarily for their combination of great performance at a reasonable price. They are capable of doing their job in less than half the cooking time of a regular pot. And unlike the volatile pressure cookers of the past, these are totally safe and easy to use.

This best-selling 7-in-1 multi cooker has the largest capacity among pressure cookers and allows you to sauté, steam, make yogurt, reheat, make desserts all at the same time. Many built-in smart programs for poultry, rice and more allow you to go beyond a traditional pressure cooker by doing all the thinking for you. It’s also a slow cooker that cooks your meal up to 70% faster than traditional cooking methods or simmer while you’re away.

Things to consider

If you’re a cook who prefers to set things and forget, an electric pressure cooker is your best option. Because you can put all the ingredients in the pot at once, seal the lid, turn it on and be gone. And at the same time you’re making the food in no time at all. Because the pressure dramatically reduces cooking time, and because the crock pot adjusts itself throughout the process, most of the time it sits idle.

The sauté function on crock pots is really best for sweating onions and other vegetables. But if you want to brown meat in an electric multipurpose cooker, keep in mind that you won’t get the intense browning as in a fire pressure cooker. Of course, you can always brown the meat in a frying pan and then put it in the cooker.

Electric pressure cookers have a lot of buttons and sounds that can be a bit disconcerting at first. But in this test, you look for models with simple, intuitive, easy-to-learn user interfaces right from the start, with a clear digital display that helps you see exactly what’s going on.

In the one finally chosen, for example, the pot lets you know it’s heating by clearly displaying the word “ON.” And once it reaches pressure, the cooking timer starts counting down.

We also warn you that almost all experts prefer uncoated stainless steel inner pans to non-stick coated ones without discussion. Because the latter can be scratched by metal tongs or spoons.

Cleaning an electric pressure cooker can be a bit tricky. And it’s important to consider the lid. The best cookers have a simple lid assembly with a removable gasket, which almost all experts consulted rate those with removable lids higher.

The statement that gaskets, valve parts and seals should be replaced every one to three years, depending on use, is true for both electric and fire pressure cookers.

In addition, a pressure cooker is an essential tool for those who live at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, because it will help them prepare meals quickly and better. Because the boiling point of water decreases as altitude increases, boiling noodles or chickpeas in a regular pot can take longer because it cooks at lower temperatures. And a pressure cooker solves this because it increases the cooking temperature.

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